Neanderthal, also spelled Neandertal, the most recent archaic humans, who emerged between 300,000 and 100,000 years ago and were replaced by early modern humans between 35,000 and perhaps 24,000 years ago. Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe eastward to Central Asia and from as far north as present-day Belgium southward to the Mediterranean and southwest Asia. Similar human populations lived at the same time in eastern Asia and Africa. Because Neanderthals lived in a land of abundant limestone caves, which preserve bones well, and where there has been a long history of prehistoric research, they are better known than any other archaic human group. Consequently, they have become the archetypal “cavemen.” The name Neanderthal (or Neandertal) derives from the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany, where quarrymen unearthed portions of a human skeleton from a cave in 1856.

Artist’s rendering of Homo neanderthalensis, who ranged from western …

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The remains from the Neander Valley consist of 16 pieces, which were scientifically described shortly after their discovery. Immediately there was disagreement as to whether the bones represented an archaic and extinct human form or an abnormal modern human. The former view was shown to be correct in 1886, when two Neanderthal skeletons associated with Middle Paleolithic stone tools and bones of extinct animals were discovered in a cave at Spy, Belgium.

From shortly after the Spy discovery to about 1910, a series of Neanderthal skeletons were discovered in western and central Europe. Using those skeletons as a basis, scholars reconstructed the Neanderthals as semi-human, lacking a full upright posture and being somewhat less intelligent than modern humans. According to that view, the Neanderthals were intermediate between modern humans and the apes, as no older human forms were then generally recognized. They were also considered to be too different from modern humans to be their ancestors. Only after World War II were the errors in this perception of Neanderthals recognized, and the Neanderthals have since come to be viewed as quite close evolutionarily to modern humans. This latter view has been reflected in the frequent inclusion of the Neanderthals within the species Homo sapiens, usually as a distinct subspecies, H. sapiens neanderthalensis; more recently they have often been classified as a different but closely related species, H. neanderthalensis. Neanderthal skeletons have been found in caves and shelters across Europe, in Southwest Asia, and eastward to Uzbekistan in Central Asia, providing abundant skeletal remains and associated archaeological material for understanding these prehistoric humans. The Neanderthals are now known from several hundred individuals, represented by remains varying from isolated teeth to virtually complete skeletons.

Skull of an adult male Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis), from the …

Courtesy of the Musée du Quai Branly (formely the Musée de l’Homme), Paris

Neanderthal origins and evolution

The fossil evidence

The fossil evidence for the few hundred thousand years leading up to the time of the Neanderthals shows a gradual decrease in the size and frequency of anatomic characteristics of H. erectus and an increase in features more representative of Neanderthals. A gradual emergence of the Neanderthals from earlier regional populations of archaic humans can be inferred, probably across their entire geographic range. The changes between Neanderthal ancestors and the Neanderthals themselves highlight their characteristics. Brain size gradually increased to reach modern human volumes relative to body mass, although Neanderthal brains and braincases tended to be somewhat longer and lower than those of modern humans. Neanderthal faces remained large and especially long, similar to those of their ancestors, and they retained browridges and projecting dentitions and noses and had receding chins. Their chewing teeth (premolars and molars) were small like those of early modern humans, and their chewing muscles and cheek regions had shrunk accordingly. Their incisor and canine teeth, however, remained large, like those of their ancestors, indicating continued use of the teeth as a vise or third hand.

The bodies of the Neanderthals changed little from those of their ancestors. They retained broad shoulders, extremely muscular upper limbs, large chests, strong and fatigue-resistant legs, and broad, strong feet. There is nothing in their limb anatomies to indicate less dexterity than modern humans or any inability to walk efficiently. The details of their hand bones, however, do suggest greater emphasis on power rather than precision grips. All these features appear to have been maintained from their ancestors.

The Neanderthals differed in facial appearance from other archaic humans of East Asia and Africa, primarily in their retention of large incisors and canines, large noses, and long faces to support those teeth. In all archaic populations, facial massiveness and the size of premolars and molars were diminishing.

Replica skull of a Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis), with a modern …

Frank Franklin II/AP

The fate of the Neanderthals is closely related to the appearance of modern humans. Over the years, the Neanderthals have been portrayed as everything from an evolutionary dead end to the direct ancestors of modern European and western Asian populations. Fossil evidence indicates that modern humans first evolved in sub-Saharan Africa sometime before 100,000 years ago. Subsequently they spread northward sometime before 55,000 years ago, displacing or absorbing local archaic human populations. As a result, the Southwest Asian, Central Asian, and central European Neanderthals were absorbed to varying degrees into those spreading modern human populations and may have contributed genetically to the subsequent early modern human populations of those regions. Even in western Europe—a cul-de-sac where the transition to modern humans took place relatively late—some researchers contend that there is fossil evidence for interbreeding between late Neanderthal and early modern humans.

The anatomic changes between Neanderthal fossil remains and the remains of early modern humans involved largely a loss of the sturdiness that was characteristic of all archaic humans. Upper limbs became more gracile, although they were still very muscular by the standards of today’s humans. The hand anatomy shifted to emphasize precision grips. Leg strength remained high, reflecting the mobility that characterized all Pleistocene hunting-and-gathering human populations. Front teeth became smaller and faces shortened, producing full chins and brows without ridges. Braincases became more elevated and rounded but not larger. Tool use and culture became more elaborate, but there are no anatomic features directly indicating that Neanderthals were smarter or less smart than other humans living at the time.